Chapter 4: Victor Valen

Back at the apartment, Sophia is on the ground crying, holding a chunk of hair in her hand.

"That's good for nothing, Amber. She tore out my hair again!" She screamed, "And that useless girl stood there and did nothing."

She then sat on the floor and began to kick, scream, and flay her hand around. By doing so, her hand hit the nearby coffee table and broke a nail. This causes her to scream even louder.

Alex, who was sitting on the sofa holding his hand, grimaced at the sight. Not only does he have to deal with Sophia's temper tantrum, but his pride is also bruised again by the same woman.

The day when Elena was disowned, Amber and Sophia got into a fight, He tried to push Amber to the ground, but she didn't move an inch. He then tried to pull her off Sophia, but Amber, still holding her by the hair, ripped out Sophia's hair and used the same hand to punch him in the face, knocking out a tooth. After both girls left, Mr. Dawnfire criticized him and began to look down on him as a man.

Alex finally had enough, walked over to Sophia, and helped her onto the sofa.

After she calmed down, Alex said, "Let's call the police. She assaulted us. We can let her get away with this."

"NO!" she screamed, which surprised him. "We can't."

"Why not?" Alex asked, very confused and a little annoyed.

"Because I said so. Now shut up!" Sophia shouted, which caused him to be more annoyed and upset but had to hide it.

Clenching her fist, she continued, "I definitely won't let them get away with this." She reached for her phone, dialed a number, and put the phone up to her ears. It rang for a few seconds before the receiver answered, "Daddy, you won't believe what Amber and Sophia did to me."

Meanwhile, in the car, Elena is confused by the statement Amber made.

"What do you mean?" she asked

"I found you a job," Amber replied

"Really? How?" Elena asked, confused.

"The spot became vacant last week. It's... a long story," she said as she parked the car in the parking lot of her apartment complex. "You remember that blondie that I work with who gives off "The only important person in the world is me" attitude."

Elena nods, "Yeah, I remember. She reminds me of Sophia."

"Well... The girl got reprimanded by the CEO's assistant after she was rude to a client. Afraid that she will get fired and pissed at the assistant, she tried to make a move on the CEO."

"No way. Tell me the details."Elena said, now curious as to what happened next.

Amber continued, "There is a private room in his office that is his pseudo-apartment, so when it is late or he wants to rest, he could just go there instead of driving all the way to his home. The CEO and his assistant are the only ones who have a key card to that room. Everyone in the company knows about this. She... ahm, stole the assistant's card, went into that room, put on her birthday suit, and slept under his bed."

Amber unbuckled her seat belt and stepped out of the car. Elena, in shock, did the same and quickly followed Amber into the apartment.

"From what I heard, she jumped from under the bed, scaring the living Jesus out of the assistant. He couldn't find his key card and thought that he had left it in the room, so he borrowed the CEO's to find it... He soccer punched her and knocked her out. When the CEO heard the whole story, he rightfully flipped his lid and fired her on the spot."

They arrived at Amber's apartment door. She unlocked it and stepped inside, walked over to the couch, and sat down on it. Elena walked in and sat on the couch beside her.

"So, now there is a vacant spot for a secretary position. I volunteered you for it and he said, 'as long as she is crazy,' then I am ok with it." she said.

Elena became happy when she heard this, but then her mood dropped when she remembered something, "Does he know about the rumors? Did you tell him?" she asked.

"Yeah, I told him. He just asked if they were true and I said no and that was it. All you have to do is come into work and sign up to become an employee." Amber said as she pulled out her phone from her handbag. She searched through it for a bit then handed the phone to Elena. "This is the assistant's number. Give him a call to book an appointment for an interview."

"OK," Elena said as she reached for Amber's phone and copied the number to her phone.

Just as she copied the number, her phone began to ring. When she looked at the caller ID, she grimaced, then sighed. She then held out the phone to show Amber. It was Elena's phone.

"Hang up the call," Amber responded. "Then block the number."

Elena did as she was told, then put her phone on the coffee table, leaned back onto the couch, and sighed.

"Let's not focus on those people. Now about you signing a lease to the apartment next door, scrap that idea. You are going to co-sign a lease with me and live here." Amber said this while staring at Elena with a serious expression.

"Why? I already made a call yesterday." Elena said she was a bit shocked and confused.

"Oh, my dear, naive Elena. After you hear me read that message my sperm donor sent you, you still want to live by yourself. You forgot what happened to your aunt." Amber remarked.

Elena gasped and started to shiver.

She remembered.

She remembered that time very well. Fifteen years ago, her aunt and Amber's stepmother, Jenny, caught the eyes of Mr. Nightshade and asked for her hand in marriage. She refused, so she went to her parents, who forced her to marry him.

From what Elena remembers, her aunt tried to run away, but her grandparents locked her way somewhere, and the next thing she knew, her aunt married Mr. Nightshade without fighting anymore.

Amber nodded her head when she saw Elena's expression, "Yeah. I don't wanna know where they took her or what they did to her there, but let's just say the same thing those crazy people did to her, they will do it to you as well."

Elena, in a panic, jumped out of her seat, grabbed Amber's shoulders, and began to shake her. She screamed, "AMBER! I don't wanna marry your father. What should I do? What should I do?"

"CUT IT OUT! My neck's gonna snap!" Amber screamed while struggling to escape Elena's grasp. "I have an idea."

Elena stopped shaking her and asked, "What?"

Amber picked up her phone and searched through her contacts again. She then showed her a caller ID, which caused Elena to calm down.

It was her and Amber's godmother, Morgana Evergreen. When Elena's mother disappeared, Miss Evergreen became her substitute mother, taking care of her when her father neglected her. She is also the founder and CEO of Radiant Elegance Jewelry, as well as a huge investor in both of their dad's companies.

Whenever their fathers tried to force them to do something against their will, Miss Evergreen always protected them.

"I will call her and tell her everything," Amber said.

Elena, who was relaxed, became tense again, "I don't think she will help me."

"Why do you think that?" Amber asked a bit puzzled.

"After I started working for Dad, I barely visited her. Not only that, Alex didn't like being around her and called her creepy..." Elena said, looking down at her shaking hands.

Amber sighed, then said, "It looks like they've been purposefully separating the two of you. But let me tell you this, no matter what, Aunt Morgan cares a lot about you. So don't worry. I am going to call her now."

Amber got up from her seat and walked to her bedroom while Elena decided to watch TV to calm her down.

Meanwhile, in a spacious, luxurious office, a handsome young man is standing at the open-view window, looking at the beautiful scenery of the sun setting.

Just then, there was a knock on the door to the room.

"Come in," he said.

The door opened and another young man stepped in, holding some documents.

"Mr. Valen, here is the report for the new medicine," the young man said.

Mr. Valen walked over to his desk, sat down, and took the document. He read through the papers and a look of disbelief washed over his face.

"Uhm... Marcus, are you sure this report is correct," he asked, a bit shocked.

"Yeah. I guess there are a lot of poor saps out there silently suffering from erectile dysfunction," Marcus said with a dumbfounded expression, "In just two weeks, we've almost sold out on the medicines. Demands are now 90%."

Mr. Valen sighed, then placed the documents on his desk and said, "I can believe Mr. Nightshade's idea worked. By the way, did you find out why he gave me that idea?"

"He is one of the poor saps suffering from erectile dysfunction," Marcus replied, which caused Mr. Valen to look at him dumbfound. "I asked the investigators to do a full background check on him and his medical records show he was diagnosed with erectile dysfunction 3 months ago. He used many different types of medicines but they didn't work."

Mr. Valen winked half of his face in an irritated smile, "So, the bastard used me as a way to cure his disease."

"Too bad it didn't work either. In fact, he is the only one who didn't get a cure." Marcus said this while walking to his desk in the corner of the room.

"How come?" Mr. Valen asked, even more puzzled than before. "The secret ingredient that we use in all our medicines is 100% guaranteed to cure all diseases."

Marcus shrugged his shoulders and said, "The only theory I could think of is that it's a curse because, well, Amber, but then again, even if it was Miss Evergreen, the ingredient would have still eliminated the curse, so I don't know."

"(Sigh) I will ask Miss Evergreen later, so let's forget about it right now." Mr. Valen said as he led back into his chair. "Know about that girl, Elena. Did you do a background check on her too?"

"Ah yes." Marcus pulled out a paper from his desk and read. "Elena Elizabeth Dawnfire. Age 24. Date of Birth: May 2, 2024. Graduate of New York University, Stern School of Business. She worked at her dad's company (Pinnacle Builders Inc.) for 2 years. From what the informants gathered, she and her father had a fallout, so in retaliation, he started spreading rumors about her."

Mr. Valen curiously looked at Marcus and asked, "Why did they fall out?"

"There's no information about it. But one thing that is known among the people who are acquainted with this family is that Elena is the black sheep of the family." Marcus said, then he continued, "It is also known that he favors his younger daughter Sophia. But get this, Elena is two months older than Sophia."

"They have different mothers," Mr. Valen said, a bit amused.

Marcus nods his head, "Exactly. Mr. Dawnfire's current wife was his mistress while he was married to Seraphina."

Mr. Valen stopped grinning and then winced like he was in pain, "Brother has a lot of balls or balls of steel to do that."

"I was surprised that he was still alive after the news got out. Oh well." Marcus said while packing up his things, "Later, I will call, Amber and ask her about the fallout with Elena and her father."

Mr. Valen stared at Marcus in shock, then a grin appeared at the corner of his mouth, "Oh-ho. You even have her number."

Marcus blushed, then screamed, "Enough of that, Victor!"

He grabbed his bag and ran out of the room.

Victor laughed at his assistant's reaction, then picked up his already packed bag and followed suit.